Pace has retaken the IRC overall lead from Palanad 4, up 2 hours 41 minutes on corrected time as of Saturday evening, a full reversal of the 17 minute margin that had Oakley Marsh's boat in front a day earlier. The swing traces to one place: Muckle Flugga, the northernmost point of the RORC Round Britain and Ireland Race course, where Palanad 4 sailed into a wind hole and a foul tide strong enough to push her backwards.
Oakley aboard Palanad 4 during the Round Britain and Ireland Race, with an oil rig visible in the distance.
"We managed to do some fast reaching into Muckle Flugga and eventually stopped and went backwards for a bit once we got there," Marsh said, "as there was a big wind hole and lots of tide." Once through it, Palanad 4 picked up 20 knots of reaching breeze aimed straight at the boats ahead, Marsh said, and clawed back time on rivals still stuck in the lighter patch behind her. Overnight the boat found a proper groove, matching Jens Kellinghusen's Ker 56 Varuna 6 stride for stride. That pairing has since separated again, with Varuna 6 a few miles ahead on the water, as she was in the early stages of the race before Palanad 4's first surge past her.
None of that is the contest that matters most to Marsh, though. "The real battle is with the Volvo 70 Pace," he said, "jumping back and forth with lead changes on corrected time." That framing matches the numbers exactly. Varuna 6 rates lower under IRC than either boat, and sits sixth overall on corrected time despite running second on the water. She's ahead of Palanad 4 boat for boat, but out of genuine contention for the win. Pace and Palanad 4 are the only two boats trading the actual IRC lead.
Saturday morning, RORC's live blog had Pace making 16.5 knots off the north Norfolk coast, while Varuna 6 was still in Norwegian waters, 21 knots and hundreds of miles further from home. Pace has 59 nautical miles left to sail, an estimated finish early Sunday morning, and once she crosses the line her corrected time locks in for real. Palanad 4 still has 285 nautical miles left, through the Channel and the Solent. That's enough sailing left for the gap to move again, in either direction. Marsh isn't expecting it to settle before then. "It will all come down to the last few days getting back to the finish in the Solent," he said.
| Pos | Boat | TCC | Corrected (if finished now) | DTF |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pace | 1.627 | 10d 16h 53m 38s | 59 NM |
| 2 | Palanad 4 | 1.431 | 10d 19h 34m 34s | 285 NM |
| 3 | Sky Business – Game On | 1.023 | 11d 6h 27m 17s | 762 NM |
| 6 | Varuna 6 | 1.526 | 11d 10h 47m 10s | 274 NM |
IRC Overall standings from YB Tracking, last position report 15 August 2026, 22:15 BST. "Corrected" figures project elapsed time sailed so far against each boat's TCC, not a final result. Provisional, subject to confirmation on the official race website.
